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Ross Lydall of the Evening Standard has a good blog post about this here, including this bit
I've just called Thames Materials, which is based in Trumpers Way, Hanwell. After being told by the receptionist that "no-one is here... well they are" I was eventually put through to a manager. He refused to give his name and said: "I have no comment to make at the moment."
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Obviously Thames Materials should lose their license to operate HGVs, aside from any corporate manslaughter case. Does anyone know if the Traffic Commissioner automatically investigates in cases like this, or do they have to be lobbied?
And is there any way of finding out what previous convictions or sanctions other HGV firms have? As far as I can tell there is very little transparency - maybe another target for lobbying.
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I'm stunned that a man with his record of convictions and disqualifications was (a) still in possession of a licence and (b) paid to drive a lorry around London, until he finally, and inevitably, killed someone.
I did a bit of googling and turned up this report from the Transport Tribunal into a 2002 case involving Thames Materials: http://www.transporttribunal.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=60
The judgement seems mainly to do with a (successful) appeal on procedural grounds against a decision to revoke the firm's license, but the preamble contains a long list of reasons why that original decision was taken, i.e. 'unsatisfactory maintenance and convictions', an inquiry in 1999 due to 'concerns following examination of the company’s tachograph sheets', 'unsatisfactory fleet inspections', 'failure to record brake performance results' and 'further convictions' in 2001.
There doesn't seem to be any way I can see of finding out what they might have got up to since 2002, however.
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About 9:30 this morning passed a cyclist (with full lycra sports gear and helmet) prone on the road near the pedestrian crossing outside Cannon St station. He was conscious,on his back holding his face and groaning, and there was a little blood (couldn't see where from). There were some pedestrians standing over him peering down so I assume he had come off just a few seconds before. In the second or two I took to pass I couldn't see any obvious cause or associated vehicle/pedestrian, but the road gets very narrow and there are lots of pedestrians at this point so no shortage of scope for collisions.
He was obviously in pain but hopefully not seriously injured. Get well soon Mr Cyclist.
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4) The elastic to hold bags in place is very very poor. And perhaps this was my biggest complaint about the bike. I was carrying a briefcase and I was unable to secure it in a way that prevented it from falling. I ended up using the fingers of my left hand to hold the briefcase in place which meant I was distracted a little as I cycled along.
Yeah, the tiny basket and inadequate elastic are very poor alright. Apart from that and the not-very-big top gear, they're okay.
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i've never understood politicians cycling, as they more often then not have a car following them carrying there crap,
Fail on them.
That's generally either for security or to carry their 'red boxes'. Neither apply to Boris, and speaking as someone who works in City Hall (sadly nothing to do with transport) I can tell you he doesn't have a car following him.
And Mark was just on BBC London radio talking about this, and getting much the better of the poor sap TfL had put up to defend the indefensible. TfL say there haven't been enough 'speed-related collisions' on the bridge to justify a 20mph limit or more cycle-friendly design, which I think tells you all you need to know about their attitude to promoting cycling.